Add to Cart: 4 Elements for Effective E-commerce

In today’s digital landscape, a website can no longer be looked at as simply a brochure of information. It should be looked at as an experience that promotes action and drives conversion; at least, if it is done well. This is even more important when it comes to e-commerce. If any element of your e-commerce experience is lacking, it will impact your bottom line.

Building a strategy for e-commerce requires looking at the big picture. Essentially, any successful e-commerce experience will:

1. Draw in the right people.
2. Convert visitors into customers.
3. Create loyalty among these customers.
4. Turn these customers into advocates that refer your business’s products or services to others.

Capture Your Audience Through Your E-commerce

E-commerce has already been growing at a fast pace and is expected to continue with double-digit growth through 2020, when it is projected to exceed $4 trillion in sales. The challenge has become establishing a presence in this ever-changing and heavily populated digital space. The first element of successful e-commerce is being able to reach the right people. This is a highly involved process, from determining and defining your customer personas to crafting the appropriate strategies and tactics for capturing each.

Provide a Positive Experience for Conversion

It won’t matter how many people you reach if the experience is poor. Capturing the right audience is the first step, but the next challenge is converting these individuals into customers. Driving conversion is more than just pricing and promotion, but also how easily an individual is able to navigate the online experience and whether or not what they find meets their needs. The consumer’s journey is becoming increasingly fragmented. Data shows that 86 percent of consumers shop around at least two touchpoints before making a purchase.

It’s highly likely that e-commerce will be one of these points. It is paramount that the experience had there doesn’t stumble, but rather glides seamlessly. This can include more than just great products, but also great content. You can get a lot of value out of content if it is well crafted and suited to your audiences. Content that educates can lead to upselling, or even awaken a need that the reader didn’t know they had.

Promote Loyalty

Great e-commerce delivers an experience that makes visitors want to purchase now and return for more later. In order to achieve the highest level of ROI, e-commerce should lead to repeat customers. If you aren’t tapping into those in your sales funnel who have already purchased, you’re missing out. Once someone becomes a customer, they shouldn’t be forgotten about. Building loyalty is key for maximizing profits.

Use Your E-commerce Build Towards Advocacy

Establishing a pool of repeat customers can lead to another powerful aspect —  advocacy. Leveraging existing customers for referrals can be very powerful in growing your customer base. When you are able to achieve this, you are able to make the most of your e-commerce efforts.

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